Camera Labs

Hi All,

I am currently using a Dell Precision T3400 workstation with the following confiuration
TO PROCESS PICTURES FROM A 40D

E6400 Dual core processor 3.0 GHZ 6 MEGS CACHE

8 GIGS OF DDR2-800

WINDOWS 7 64 BIT PROFESSIONAL INSTALLED ON A 300 GIG VelociRaptor 16 MEG CACHE DRIVE

PHOTOSHOP SCRATCH DISK ON AN 80 GIG VelociRaptor 16 MEG CACHE

DATA DRIVE FOR STORING PROCESSED PICTURES ON ANOTHER SEPERATE 300 GIG VelociRaptor 16 MEG CACHE DRIVE

(2) DELL U2410 MONITORS

I AM GETTING READY TO PURCHASE A 5DMKII

WILL MY CURRENT CONFIGURATION BE GOOD OR SHOULD I UPGRADE THE PROCESSOR TO A QUAD CORE Q9650 (3.0 GHZ 12 MEGS CACHE) AND AN SSD DRIVE FOR THE O/S....HOW MUCH OF A DIFFERENCE WILL I SEE GOING TO THE QUAD CORE AND THE SSD DRIVE ??

I REALLY CAN'T AFFORD TO BUY A NEW I7 MACHINE AND THE 5DMKII HOWEVER THE UPGRADES TO MY CURRENT MACHINE ARE KINDA IN MY BUDGET...BASICALLY WHAT IT COMES DOWN TO IS...DO I NEED TO BUY A NEW MACHINE IN ORDER TO PROCESS 5DMKII FILES OR JUST DO THE UPGRADES ??
ANY SUGGESTIONS WOULD BE MOST APPRECIATED...THANKS IN ADVANCE...SHKJ

sorry about the shouting it was an accident

Hi shirschb2,

May I wish you a warm welcome to the CameraLabs forum.

Does a 40D to 5D2 upgrade require a computer upgrade. No, not really. File sizes will be bigger and you'll see a proportional slow down in DPP and PhotoShop but only for those moments when they are doing intensive work. I'd say get your 5D2 and if you become frustrated by your computer's performance then mark down the summer as a time to look at a Sandy Bridge motherboard/processor/memory upgrade (review).

Bob.

_________________
OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.

There exists fast quad cores for Intel socket 775 as well, so you could check your computers supported CPU's. Call Dell for accurate details.
(Intel 775 Quad CPU's can be gotten second hand for a fair price btw, I doubt you would notice the difference between a Core 2 Quad and an i7 quad)

Other than that, you have plenty of RAM and your HDD's aren't sloppy, although an SSD would probably feel a little quicker.

However as Bob says, start looking after you get problems not before your not sure if you will get any at all ^^

_________________
Canon 5D MkII -|- Sigma 24mm f/1.8 | Carl Zeiss 35mm f/2.0 | Canon 50mm f/1.4 | Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro | Lensbaby Composer
Canon A-1 -|- Canon 28mm f/2 | Canon 35mm f/2.8 | Canon 50mm f/3.5 Macro

Comparing SSD to Raptor i'd SSD if the money is unlimited although lower price of SSD only have a very limited capacity. If you get multiple raptor HHD like what you have posted two of 300Gb raptor is probably worth of buying 2x10k rpm is enough to read/write/copy/paste massive files. Loading windows 7 with any HHD will be just fine but I prefer Black Cav. Wester Digital its cheap thats why and fast enough for me, this is if your going to separate your winodws 7.

About your processor i'd get quad core instead of dual core it'll help you to do multiple task with slowing down and ofcourse if you get a quad core processor you'll probably need to get a new motherboard as well.

8GB Memory is probably enough, I have Core i5 Quad Core with 4GB memory still having a little laggy because lightroom use a lot of memory usage.

_________________
EOS Photography


--------------------------------------------------------
I like simple, I like RAW, I like to learn more

Your current configuration is pretty decent and should be fine for what you're doing.

_________________
Nikon D3100 || Nikkor 18-55mm || Nikkor 55-200mm -||- Sony Alpha a100 || Sony 18-70mm

If you're into things happening yesterday, you'll definitely be wanting a boost. Core 2500k CPU - overclock it to 4GHz should push it pretty decent.

My Core i7 920 @ 4GHz still experiences slow downs editing 5DMkII files.

_________________
Canon EOS 5DmkII + BG-E6 + Canon EOS 40D + BG-E2N + Canon EOS 33
Canon 17-40 F/4L USM + Canon 24-70 F/2.8L USM + Canon 28mm F/1.8 USM + Canon 70-200 F/2.8L USM IS + Canon 85mm F/1.8 USM
Canon Speedlite 580EX II + Canon Speedlite 540EZ + 2 x Nikon SB-80DX
Cactus V2s Wireless Trigger - 5 x Cactus V2s Wireless Reciever

MY FLICKR!